Blast from the past
I promised a shorter gap between blog posts and I’ve delivered, though I am actually still thoroughly behind, and have 2 maybe 3 posts before I’m caught up to where we actually are in the world. It’s kind of nice to travel back in time though and remind myself of all the things we did and I initially thought this post would be quite short but once I started looking back, there is in fact a lot of amazing, funny memories to share of this leg of our journey.
Arriving to a familiar sight
We drove back from Koroni for a one night stopover in Athens before catching a plane to Cyprus the following morning, where a slightly different festive period awaited us. This is the only destination that we’d been to before as a family, well 3 of us… sort of. We were incredibly lucky to be given the use of a friends home in Cyprus and we’re very conscious of how fortunate it is to have such wonderful and generous friends, and I think that mindset of gratitude influenced the kind of Xmas we wanted to have. The last time we were here was roughly 8 years ago when Nikki was pregnant with Roscoe… I’m fairly sure he doesn’t remember it. It holds a special place in our memories as it was where Nikki and I got engaged, at the birthplace of Aphrodite no less. Given that we knew the area a little and what our accommodation was going to be like, we were pretty relaxed upon arrival.
We were headed to a village called Tala, just outside of Paphos. A somewhat easy travel day awaited, if there is such a thing with children. It doesn’t matter how long the flight is, our packing process remains the same and begins the day (sometimes 2) days before. Such fine margins on the amount of luggage we carry eliminates the luxury of just throwing things into a suitcase, it’s a military procedure and one which we are always tweaking and refining, at the moment this still seemed like a small price to pay for the freedom of travelling lightly. When you then add in the obligatory 2hr pre flight arrival time, security checks, collecting hire cars, navigating to accommodation (with a cursory stop for supplies), a flight of just an hour and thirty minutes becomes a full day procedure. We were lucky that everything went smoothly and we got off the plane to warm sun and clear skies.
We started to wend our way up the hills on the outskirts of Paphos to our awaiting villa. It quickly became apparent that our hire car, whilst being mostly fine, was a little underpowered for the steepness of the hills it had to climb… So it was quickly given the delightful moniker ‘Hopeless Hill-da the Happy Hyundai’. Still, if Hillda has to get there in 1st, then 1st gear she shall have… So long as she gets there! Once we managed to locate the beautiful villa we were staying in we quickly felt relaxed, at home and ready to explore our surroundings the following day.
Sparkly Medical Dramarama!
So it’s probably been at least a fortnight since our last medical emergency, hence the universe felt it only right that we have another. This one was truly bizarre so bear with me. I’ll start by explaining that we are one of many families that have an ‘Elf’ come to stay with us at Christmas, I can’t say that I’ve ever been particularly enthusiastic about this fact, but someone else bought it for us a few years ago and now it’s become a firm and essential part of the kids Yule time. I’ll also admit that even my reservations are dispelled when I see how much fun and enjoyment they get from seeing what he’s been doing overnight.
Anyway, I naively thought “Great, we’re going travelling, no elf this year”. We get at least one year off from frantic late night elf posing sessions (often at 3 in the morning because we’ve forgotten, gone to sleep and woken up in a blind panic)… How wrong I was. Nikki insisted on bringing it with us despite my protests and so it was stowed away in her backpack for safekeeping. This is a decision she came to regret.
For some reason, the elf was wrapped in a kind of gold glittery fabric which began to fray and spread glitter everywhere over her backpack and in unpacking in Cyprus I guess some must have got onto her side of the bed because she woke up with a pretty large piece of gold glitter… stuck to her eyeball! No amount of rinsing, or gentle persuasion would get this piece of glitter off. So, yes, our very first full day in Cyprus was spent driving around trying to find a medical centre (and eventually a specialist eye Doctor) to have it surgically removed under local anaesthetic before it ended up causing any damage… Seriously, you couldn’t write this… except I am, so you can.
One positive is that it was so easy and fast to get it dealt with, now I’m a massive advocate of the NHS, but everyone from the UK knows it’s current issues. Once we’d been given directions to the eye doctor there was no waiting for an appointment, no lengthy consultations it was all done and dusted in under 30 minutes for 30 euros in a friendly and professional way. I told her we shouldn’t have bought the elf!
So many cats we lost count of all the legs! Helping out where we can
One thing we weren’t able to do this Christmas was presents, not that we ever go too crazy with our kids at Xmas. To us, it is far more about time spent together enjoying good food, drinks and playing games. We were quite anxious about explaining this to the kids but to be honest, they took it amazingly. We all agreed that what we were giving each other this Xmas was experiences and memories and more importantly we wanted to try and give back to the world in whatever way we could to say thank you for how lucky we felt at being on this adventure. To this end we decided we would help out at some of the many animal shelters on Cyprus. This also was in part to keep our connections with animals alive. December marked a year since we lost the heartbeat of our family, our dog Tigerlilly and the last year had been one of adjusting to a family life without her. One thing that helped us all cope was knowing how good a life she had, therefore the chance to help out less fortunate animals was a perfect tonic to help with such a solemn anniversary.
We were lucky that 5 minutes away was the simply amazing Tala Cat Sanctuary. Home to some 600 rescue cats! The staff told me that pre-covid that number was more like 900! It’s a place where visitors are very much welcome and you are encouraged that the best way you can help is to simply spend time with the cats, play with them, fuss them… just generally hang out with a whole bunch of cats. They were all absolutely lovely, super-friendly, furry animals. I’ll admit that when you get there, it does feel like a feline Zombie movie as from nowhere dozens of cats start ambling toward you and start making themselves at home to the point where you have at least two on your lap, one on each shoulder, maybe one on a head, and several rubbing around your ankles waiting to be the next in line for some fuss… If you don’t like cats, it would literally be hell, but luckily we all do. None more so than Roscoe, who in particular has a real affinity with cats. He was so in his element here that we revisited Tala cats another 3 times during our stay in Cyprus and each time it was a delightful way to spend a few hours. The staff here were amazing and the centre is full of enrichment for the Cats with plenty of places for folk to sit and enjoy being among the feline inhabitants.
We also went and helped out at one of Cyprus largest animal rescue centres, The Paphos A.R.C. This was a mixed rescue centre spread over a much larger area. They had over a thousand animals including Cats, Dogs, Goats, Donkeys and Ponies. Stray and abandoned animals are a real problem in Cyprus and although it’s good that places like this exist, I’m always mindful that the need for them to exist shouldn’t even be there in the first place.
Another incredible organisation that we connected with, albeit not animal related, was The Learning Refuge. This is a small centre that provides help for the large, ever growing refugee and asylum seeker community in Paphos. They provide support to these families on so many levels but also put on workshops, skill shares and events as well as organising supply donations and collections. I can’t express how important the work they do is and how sympathetically and warmly they do it. The centre had a real sense of community and we were made to feel more than welcome. We’d been asked by the lady who runs the centre if we wanted to put together a food hamper before we turned up and I was really proud with how the kids took this task on by taking the lead in a trip to the supermarket and getting the things on the list plus a few treats they thought the children of the family might like. We felt really fortunate to help out at the centre a few days before Christmas by sorting through donation boxes, wrapping presents and then by delivering the food hamper we’d bought to a nearby Syrian family. I wasn’t sure if the kids would really grasp the situation but I think even at their young age they realised that 10 people sharing a single room dwelling, with one mattress, isn’t right on any level and they helped unquestionably through the entire process. Still, I don’t want to verge into virtue signalling, and as much as it felt really good to be able to help out, it made it clear that we can all always do more.
Sand, sea, sun, nature and… Lemurs?!
Cyprus is undoubtedly a beautiful island and in our month there we barely scratched the surface beyond the surrounding area of Paphos. However, this still allowed for some truly incredible places. Once again, beaches featured heavily.
Coral Bay, Lara Bay & The Turtle Museum
This beach trip became so much more. We’d read about Lara Bay and how important a beach it is for nesting Turtles so it was somewhere we had to go. Firstly, this is when I realised that if I ever visit Cyprus again, I’ll be hiring a 4×4. The roads beyond the built up area of Paphos are literal dirt tracks littered with pot holes… Poor Hilda the Hyundai couldn’t go much faster than 15mph for most of the journey, so it made for quite a long drive time wise. What we were greeted with at Lara was a habitat that was a perfect example of how serious the environmental problems facing the world, and in particular our oceans, are. It was covered in plastic waste, the majority of which it was clear had not been left there, but that it had washed up there. If you threw a 1 metre square down on any area of sand, the pieces of plastic would have numbered well into the thousands. We have a little family tradition whereby whenever we visit the beach we have a litter pick and try to take away at least a small bag full of rubbish. We did the same here, collecting as much as we could and taking it up to the bins at the top of the entrance. However, I can’t help but express how sad and a little futile this felt given the scale of the problem on display at Lara Bay. It didn’t deter us… and we even managed to drag a fridge up and away to a point where it wasn’t going to end up back in the sea.
What was a hugely positive about the whole experience was that it alerted us to the presence of the Innia Turtle Museum, which we decided to visit on a separate day. It was set up and is still run by a local conservationist and leading figure in Turtle Conservartion. He kindly showed us round and explained all the work they do. He was an inspiring individual and the kids were really engaged in learning more about Turtles. Our efforts on the beach and enthusiasm at the museum were rewarded with an invitation to go back in September and help out with Turtle nesting season, which is something that as a family we’d love to do… But September is along way down the journey, we’ll do our best but who knows where we’ll be by then.
The closest beach to us was Coral Bay, a popular tourist destination during peak season but perfectly quiet enough for us during December, whilst still having warmer seas than we are used to in the UK. We went to this beach several times and it became somewhat of a sunset beach for us. A stunning place but I’m not sure I’d fancy it in the summer chaos!
Avakas Gorge, Paphos Zoo & Sparti Ropes Park
Amongst the helping out and giving back, we also took time to have some trips out close to Xmas. The kids highlight of these was probably Paphos zoo. The zoo itself is lovely, but I can imagine there are bigger and more impressive zoos out there. However, what made it so special was the awesome walk-in Lemur enclosure. Run, coincidentally, by an expat from Cornwall. It’s exactly as it sounds, you head inside and within seconds you have a whole troop of friendly Lemurs jumping on you, crawling on you and generally having a great time. Kind of like Tala Cats… Only with Lemurs! They were really friendly and gentle, and as it was such a quiet time of year we got to stay in there for quite a long time with our new Lemur family.
Mine and Nikkis highlight was probably Avakas Gorge. A stunning hike through a limestone gorge formed over millions of years, it starts with a nature trail and as you get deeper into the valley it gets more and more impressive. The kids were a little tired on this day and so were slightly dubious at ‘walking’, however, once we started to get into the steep sided gorge… They loved it, we don’t have anything quite like this at home!
Another great day out was Sparti Ropes Park. I’m sure there are thousands of rope parks all over the world but this one impressed us with it’s ingenuity and appeal to kids. There were zip-lines using chairs, bikes, skateboards, scooters and more besides. There were lots of routes and runs so the kids could really build up their confidence in their own time. Definitely worth a day out if your ever in Cyprus and looking for an all action non-beach day.
Cyprus has a wealth of ancient history, and Paphos specifically is home to some impressive ancient sites. The Tombs of the Kings is a vast sprawling archaeological necropolis dating as far back as the 4th century BC and carved out of solid rock. There are dozens of excavated tombs, which you can easily spend most of a day walking around. Plus, you are pretty free to explore, crawl and climb wherever you want so the kids really enjoyed it. Thought to have not been the resting place of any actual kings, more wealthy noble families, it is in incredibly well preserved condition.
Christmas Wanderings and Cultural Nuances
Since it was ‘that’ time of year, we got stuck into some local festive events. We visited some really nice local markets, but with no space for additional items in our luggage we weren’t able to get anything beyond some of the consumable delights on offer. We also went to a Xmas fair at the local golf club, and this gave us a keen lesson in some distinct cultural differences! As is usual at these events they had a ‘Santas Grotto’; the kids wanted to queue up for this and luckily we got there when there was literally only one family in front of us. So, like true Brits we politely stood behind them thinking that an orderly queue would form… nah. As the crowd grew and more children joined with their respective adults it started to resemble something more like a mosh pit for the under 12’s. There was no pretence at orderly queueing, just pushing, shoving and crowding in front of the door to the point we had to pick up the kids and hold them above the chaos lest they get squished. We didn’t even really have the option of getting out as the mass of people behind us was so dense, It was eye-opening to say the least, and to be honest… It bought home all of the worst parts of this time of year – the greed, consumerism and lack of awareness of other people. We did mange to get in to see Santa, but it was a pretty stressful situation if I’m honest. The best part was that the kids managed to stay calm and when we’d got out of there, they were of a like mind to us in that it wasn’t something they wanted to repeat!
We had another, slightly more comical lesson in the Cypriot attitude toward queueing. Paphos town council has a bus which it decks out in fairy lights and speakers and sends out driving around the street at night playing festive music. It’s a truly gaudy, bizarre, loud, spectacle of a thing… and also, a lot of fun to be honest. The kids had seen it drive past a few times and Senara was desperate to have a ride on it (Roscoe, not so much). So we found out the times and where it departed from and stood waiting for the bus to arrive… Only for 2 very elderly ladies to literally barge my 4 year old daughter out of the way to get onto the bus ahead of us to claim the best seats, and I mean barge her to the floor! It was both rude and slightly comical at the same time. I bit my tongue however as Senara was too enraptured with the lights and the music to be that bothered. Cultural differences are one thing we absolutely want to experience, so we can’t complain just because some of those differences aren’t necessarily to our liking. Phew, I never thought this blog would turn into a treatise defending the established tradition of the orderly British queue, but there you go, apparently travelling changes you.
Out of the frying pan and into the freeze
So there we are, that was an insight into what December was like for us in Cyprus. We still managed to of course have a Roast dinner on Xmas day, albeit a slightly different one, and I think for all of us it was a one of the most memorable Christmases we’ve ever had. Full of the gifts of memories, experience and being able to give back those less fortunate than you. Cyprus is a beautiful and interesting island which even upon a second visit I leave with thoughts of places I’d like to see next time. We have no time to rest on our laurels though, we’re leaving Cyprus and Flying to Bulgaria for new years eve and the next part of our adventure. A big change to what we’ve been used to awaits us in the the historic capital of Sofia; freezing sub zero temperatures and snow, and hopefully (please cross all your fingers) our warm winter clothes have arrived by post at our accommodation!
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